What Is the Intelligent Design Movement?Christianity and Science: Part 5 of 12

- Patient/doctor story: “What do you know?! Dead men bleed after all!”- Assumptions can determine how we interpret evidence, shutting down certain possibilities.- Controversy over Intelligent Design highlights this problem; points us back to our assumptions.

BASIC IDEA- Natural features give evidence of design, implying involvement of an intelligent mind in nature.- The identity of this mind is left open.

EXAMPLE ARGUMENTS OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN(1) Irreducible complexity- Mousetrap has numerous interlocking parts, all of which are necessary to serve any purpose.- Some biological features have the same kind of structure, only more complex.- Human eye: cornea, pupil/iris, lens, retina, optic nerve, brain; all must work together.- Evolution requires micro-changes that offer advantages; but how could the eye have evolved?- The eye shows features of being designed for a specific purpose.

(2) Biological information- Complexity of the cell is staggering; this was not known in Darwin’s day (Berlinski quote)- DNA is encoded information; information implies intention/intelligence- Can you think of any other example in which coded information is produced naturally?- DNA appears to be designed for a specific purpose.

(3) Fine tuning- Imagine dozens of radio dials, all of which have to be set precisely to get a signal.- If all are set precisely, you would assume someone has done that meticulous work.- Some ID proponents argue that the universe is like that: gravity, ratios, nuclear force, etc.- Example: ice is less dense than water; freezes from the top down.- The universe and earth seem to be designed for a specific purpose.

KEY CONCEPT OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN- Teleology: the natural world exhibits evidence of purposeful design.- Darwinism rules this out of court; nature is always random.- Scientific community has responded to ID by saying it’s not science.

Is Intelligent Design True Science?WORLDVIEW AND THE NATURE OF SCIENCE- Worldview issue: personalism vs. impersonalism- Reigning paradigm in science: impersonalism (religion must be sealed off)naturalism- Is the impersonalist approach to science a “neutral” one? No. There is no neutrality.- Why should teleology be part of science? For God’s glory: Rom 1:18-32; teleology in nature.- Theistic evolutionists who see God’s wisdom revealed in nature are (thankfully!) inconsistent.

OBJECTION TO INTELLIGENT DESIGN AS SCIENCE- Objection: ID is a “God-of-the-gaps” theory.- But ID is not a claim built on ignorance; it is a rational conclusion drawn from evidence- Example: Two archaeologists find a stone with symmetrical proportions, curved edges, tip- One concludes: “It’s an arrowhead.” The other: “It must have been formed naturally.”- One approach is clearly better, and it all depends on your assumption going in.- The Darwinist has gaps too; he fills them with Darwinian imagination.- “That rock could have been carved into that shape by erosive forces of water over time.”- Punctuated equilibrium: a “Darwin-of-the-gaps” hypothesis to account for the fossil record.

- Evolutionary theory is helpful for understanding changes within different forms of life.- But as an explanation for all species, it has serious problems.- The main way it has dealt with those problems: “Anything else is not science!”- But deciding what is/is not science is a philosophical question, not a scientific one.- We must not approach science without asking bigger questions about what our assumptions are.